Riding what he says is his final season in the bunch, Oscar Freire showed that he is still a force in professional cycling when he thundered to victory on stage four of the Santos Tour Down Under.
The charismatic triple world road race champion was one of 49 riders who remained out front after the bunch blew apart on the category one climb of Mengler Hill. Overnight race leader Andre Greipel was in trouble well before the summit, 23 kilometres from the line, and he plus many in the peloton would lose a staggering seven minutes 45 seconds by the finish.
Freire had no such problems and proved quicker than former world under 23 champion Gerald Ciolek (Omega Pharma Quick Step), Daniele Bennati (RadioShack Nissan) and new points leader Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) in the gallop into Tanunda.
“It was a difficult finale. I knew I had a really good chance to win,” said the 35 year old Spaniard after clocking up his first victory in 2012. “The race was hard (so) it was better for me. I'm happy to score the team's first victory of the year after joining Katusha.”
The time bonus for the win moves him up to third overall. Swiss rider Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team) was able to remain in the front group and moved back into the race lead that Greipel took off him yesterday.
Australian rider Michael Matthews (Rabobank) finished fifth in the sprint to the line and is now second overall. Both he and Freire are just two seconds back, and are poised to pounce on tomorrow’s tough finish at Old Willunga Hill.
So too a number of other dangerous riders, including Ciolek (fourth overall at six seconds), Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge) and Boasson Hagen, both eight seconds back, and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), who is a further four seconds in arrears.
Kohler is not betting on himself, but rather is savouring being back in the ochre jersey. “I didn't expect to be back in the lead but we dropped Andre Greipel on the climb and then we were riding hard to make the gap bigger,” he said. “Tomorrow there will be ten or fifteen riders contesting the win at the top of Willunga Hill. It's going to be very hard and I don't know if I can keep this lead or not but I'm already happy with what I'm doing here.”
Matthews is determined to make his move. “The jersey I want is ochre and I'll try to get it tomorrow,” he promised, the second year pro wanting to improve on his fourth overall of last year. “It's unfortunate that I missed it today by only two seconds. Not having the jersey today takes a lot of pressure off you but it's also better to be ahead of everyone else.”
Early break precedes big blowup on climb:
A day that would considerably reduce the numbers of those still in contention started off in a relatively controlled fashion, with breakaway attempts being nullified prior to the first Jayco intermediate sprint at Kersbrook. There, 25.3 kilometres after the start in Norwood, Greipel sped across the line ahead of Matthews and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), extending his lead by a second over the Australian.
The peloton’s grip on things relaxed after that and four riders were able to wriggle clear. Jay McCarthy (UniSA-Australia) led the group over the first SKODA King of the Mountain climb of the day, the second category climb at Smith Hill (km 30.8), with Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Blel Kadri (AG2R la Mondiale) and Gatis Smukulis (Katusha) also in the move.
The break dropped to three riders when Smukulis went south. Perez Moreno was first to the line at the second Jayco sprint, heading Kadri and McCarthy in the placings at Mt Pleasant (km 51). They worked hard to try to extend their lead over two minutes but couldn’t quite snap the elastic; they were caught close to the category one climb of Menglers Hill, where Greipel and many others got into difficulty.
Afterwards, Movistar directeur sportif José Luis Arrieta said that his riders had done a lot of the damage in riding for Valverde. “We had already talked this morning about, depending on how the stage was going, attacking on the last climb, and that's what we did.
“We set David López and Javi Moreno to pull full-steam there and we got to break up the field. We were not only thinking about the GC [for Valverde], but also about the stage chances for Rojas. It was a pity that he couldn't get past his rivals at the finish.”
Rohan Dennis (UNI SA - Australia) was first over the top, followed by Moreno, Simon Gerrans (GreenEDGE), Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan) and the others in the 49 man move. Freire was also there, and showed the versatility and speed which earned him three world titles when he sped to victory at the finish.
Boasson Hagen has been banging on the door all week and after taking third yesterday, finished one place further back. He said that he jumped too soon after his team-mate Geraint Thomas led him towards the line, but that taking the lead in the Jayco Points classification is a nice consolation. He’s also very much in the hunt for the ochre jersey.
“I just try every day to move up on overall GC. It's nice to have the sprint jersey,” he said, speaking of his one point advantage over Greipel. “I didn't expect it but that's not the one I'm looking for, I want to win the jersey of the overall classification.
With Sunday’s final stage not likely to cause any big time gaps, the showdown will be on tomorrow’s stage to the summit finish of Old Willunga Hill. The GC battle will be fought out there, but so too the scrap for the SKODA King of the Mountain award.
Australian under 23 road race and time trial champion Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) is five points clear of Thomas De Gendt (Vaconsoleil-DCM), thanks to cresting the summit of today’s big climb first. He admitted afterwards to being surprised at being in the position he is in, but also said that he would defend it if possible.
“I didn't think that I would lead the King of the Mountain because I only had one point from my breakaway on day one,” he explained. “Tomorrow at the bottom of Willunga it will be all or nothing.”
Many riders will feel precisely the same way including Kohler, the man who is now in the crosshairs of the race favourites.